Vanities: Shooting Up

By Carol Saline, Senior Editor: Medicine & Health

Published December, 2002 in Philadelphia magazine

I first heard Botox being touted a decade ago, after an ophthalmologist who’d been using it to treat involuntary eye-twitching noticed that it also helped crow’s-feet disappear. I was skeptical; Botox, though highly diluted, is derived from a bacterium that can poison food. But then, last April, the FDA approved it for cosmetic use, and I made an appointment with Marc Cohen, an ophthalmic plastic surgeon who’d been using the stuff for years.

I opted to treat my crow’s-feet and the “bunny” lines on the bridge of my nose. Cohen applied a numbing solution, then took out the needle and gave me six virtually painless pinpricks in my trouble spots. It took five minutes. No swelling; no bruising. I barely had to retouch my eye makeup before going to work. In a few days, the lines were considerably lessened. Unfortunately, the effect is only temporary; I’ll need another treatment (at $300-$600 a pop) in three to four months.